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comments:

Love Dotty Frank. Have read all her books, including The Christmas Pearl. We lived in Charleston for three years and she does a wonderful job depicting her lowcountry beginnings -- except for maybe Mango Sunsets :)

I've never heard of this author, nor do I know where Folly Beach is, but the cover is nice and you can always tell a good book by it's cover, right?! Plus, I like to read and maybe I'll learn where Folly Beach is in the process so there's an educational aspect to this too! ;)

Oh, I just have to win this one! I work right down the street from the Books-A-Million and I get off work at 6pm! I could be at the book signing with no problem and I would love to have this, I mean, my copy signed! Thanks so much and Frank...see ya on the 20th! Dani

My sailor hubby was stationed in Charleston SC during the mid 60's, saw the ocean for the first time at the Isle of Palms on Easter Sunday morning - what a lovely memory "Folly Beach" brings back, especially for the farm girl from Illinois who hadn't been out of the state let alone see the ocean!Can't afford beach trips nowadays but a quiet getaway on the back deck with a good book sounds heavenly...

I have never read any of Dorothea Frank's book but Folly Beach is where I spent my very first spring break in college over 6 years ago. It was not your typical spring break but it was a magical one. I would love to relive the magic of that spring break again through this book. It would also add to the excitement of a potential upcoming trip with friends to Charleston/Folly Beach to be able to walk on the pier again. The wonderful memories.

I just returned from taking my two daughters to Folly Beach last week. They both are voracious readers. I would love them to read this and be able to see the character's world through visualizations of places they visited, while there, to make their reading experience come alive for them.

Folly Beach...anticipating that special stretch of sand, the dunes, the lighthouse just out of reach in the surf, the dolphins at play around the surfers...an amazing, one of a kind place. A Dorothy Frank book with this title will be almost as good as a vacation there.

As an English teacher, I have to read lots of academic "stuff" throughout the school year, but summer is time for brain candy. My best friend just recommended this author to me, so I would love to begin my summer with a North Carolina beach read.

Dorothea Benton Frank,It is you I now must thankFor your many good reads,My Southern roots did feed.Lying on sandy beaches,Reclining in quiet niches,Pages turning, satisfies my yearningFor more of your low country tales.And now, Folly Beach,I want to discoverAnd feel its ocean breezes.

Moving south from Jersey almost 20 years ago I was way out of my zone. I discovered Ms Benton Frank's novel about 10 years ago. Between Ms. Benton Frank showing me the gentle loveliness of the south with it's strong grounded women and Ms. Evanovich showing me Jersey girls in their strong and independent ways I have found the best of both worlds. The only problem is waiting for each new novel. There is a glass of red and my seat on the deck waiting for this book to keep them company.

Back when I had my pool cleaning business, we went to Folly Beach for a week every year. Then several years ago, I had a mid-life crisis and decided I didn't want to clean pools the rest of my life, so I decided to pursue a career as a community college English instructor.

I knew that I'd have to get some experience as a part-time instructor before I'd be considered for a full-time position; what I didn't know was that college writing courses are overwhelmingly taught by part-time instructors, and it is difficult (apparently impossible for me)to obtain a full-time position.

A case in point, and related to the story on MFA programs: A friend of mine, with an MFA (considered a terminal degree like a PhD), taught for eleven years at a variety of colleges and universities before getting a full-time position. He is well-published, with three full-length books, and hundreds of essays and poems.

What does it say about our society that the teaching of writing is a part-time job? And what does it say about our colleges and universities that it really isn't a part-time job, but simply an exploitative managerial practice? For example, I'm teaching four summer session courses right now. Yes, I'm only in the classroom 24 hours a week (plus driving to three different campuses), but as I ready to grade a stack of 100 essays this weekend, I can assure you I'm working a full-time schedule.

I find that I have far less time for my own reading and writing than I did as a pool cleaner,and I certainly have far less income. So I'm thinking maybe I need to read this book set in Folly Beach. The mid-life crisis is over, and I'm thinking now that I can live with the possibility of having pool cleaner on my tombstone, if I can return to a normal life, with a normal beach vacation. As my spell-check ruined students might write, "I would defiantly rather go to the beach."

Dannye Romine Powell

Dannye Romine Powell

About this blog

Dannye Romine Powell has published three collections of poetry (University of Arkansas Press), and a non-fiction book, "Parting the Curtains: Interviews with Southern Writers" (John Blair). Over her years at the Observer, she's served as book review editor, feature writer, restaurant critic and local news columnist. Count on her for news of Carolinas authors and write her at dpowell@charlotteobserver.com.